


Coming Down the Bloodline

by BeesKnees



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adoption, Crossover, Gen, SHIELD, Secret adoption, the revolution is coming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-01
Packaged: 2018-01-03 04:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1065940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeesKnees/pseuds/BeesKnees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katniss Everdeen has always known she was adopted.  It's never been an issue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coming Down the Bloodline

Katniss Everdeen has grown up knowing she was adopted. Simply put, it’s not an issue. There are plenty of orphans in District 12, and they are all taken in, because District 12 watches out for its own. She has never had cause to doubt the strength she derives from her father, the love she feels for her sister, the world she builds for her mother.

It’s never even mentioned that Katniss is adopted during the Seventy-Fourth Annual Hunger Games, and she’s so busy trying to stay alive, that she never bothers to wonder over whether that’s on purpose or because they don’t know.

In any case, there is a steady sense of normalcy after she returns to District 12 as a Victor. She and her mother move all their things to the new house, and she hunts, and buys things for all of them. She decides to put the Hunger Games behind her, to rely on the present, as she’s always done. 

However, the closer the next Hunger Games get, the more she can feel the frenzied emotion in the air, the way their district pines for change. 

And then, one day, she comes home and there’s a stranger in her kitchen. Katniss’ fingers itch for the reassuring feeling of a bow and arrow in her grasp, but her only defenses are stored away in the woods. She’s on her own now, but at least her mom and Prim aren’t here. 

“Don’t mean to startle you,” the stranger says, holding up both of his hands. He gestures for Katniss to sit down. “Just thought it was about time we had a talk, Katniss Everdeen.”

“Who are you?” Katniss asks without sitting down, stalking the edges of the room as her eyes flit about, trying to see if she can find anybody else in the room. It looks deserted, the same as it always does. But that doesn’t change the fact that this man got in. He’s wearing an eyepatch, and a long sort of jacket that Katniss has never seen before. He carries himself the way that many of the Victors do — as if they never left the arena, and are just waiting for the world to attack them again. He’s more subtle about it, but Katniss can see it anyway. 

“I’m an … acquaintance of your parents,” the man answers. Each of his words is carefully measured and delivered. Katniss stiffens. She can tell just by the way he says the word “parents,” that he doesn’t mean the father Katniss lost in a mine explosion, and he doesn’t mean the mother who struggles to keep them as something that could be labeled a family.

“Who are you?” Katniss asks again, the words more abrasive as she inches around the edges of the kitchen. She manages to get her fingers around the handle of a butter knife. The blade will be dull, but she can make it work. She can make it work if she has to.

“You can call me Fury, Miss Everdeen,” he says, taking a seat, hands folded in front of him. He watches her, obviously waiting for her to sit down as well. “I’m a part of an organization that has been working to bring down the Capitol. You can call us SHIELD.” 

He produces a flurry of folders, each slim, but filled with sheets of paper. Katniss can’t help but stare at them. She’s taken aback by the bluntness of his speech. It’s not like anything she’s ever heard her, and certainly not like anything she’s ever heard in the Capitol. For a moment, she’s inclined to check for the cameras in the room, but this isn’t Snow’s craftsmanship. This is something else. This is something else that pulls at her senses, something that reminds her of the way it feels when she has fingers balanced on a bow, just before she lets the arrow fly. 

She steps in closer, but still maintains her grip on the butter knife. Fury’s smile is grim. He slides one of the files across the table toward Katniss. She brushes her fingertips across it, and then flips it open, unable to help herself. She’s able to skim it quickly. Still, she isn’t prepared for what’s inside. There’s a picture of a woman with curled red hair, face turned away from the camera, body poised for attack. In the other picture, there’s a man, and he is looking toward the camera, body in alignment with a bow and arrow. A familiar position.

“I work with your parents,” Fury says. He’s obviously waiting to see what Katniss will do. She turns the pictures aside, looks at the file on SHIELD — based out of District 13, the paperwork says. A team of extraordinary individuals who are dedicated to bringing down Snow.

She’s never heard of them before. Not rumors, not whispers, not anything. She looks back up at Fury, studies him hard. Maybe it’s possible these people in the photographs are her parents. But she’s more interested in a normal life right now. She can’t leave Prim behind. 

“No thanks,” Katniss says staunchly, passing the file back across the table to him.

Fury takes the folder back calmly.

“You know, they didn’t want to give you up,” Fury continues. “But it wasn’t safe. You’re not the only kid we decided to hide out here in Twelve.” He flips over a folder that has a picture of Gale on the front of it. Katniss desperately wants to look inside it; she’s never heard that Gale was adopted and her first instinct is to call Fury a liar, but the word doesn’t quite make it to her tongue.

“No thanks,” is what she says again, words more firm. 

Fury nods as if her response doesn’t come as a surprise.

“You’re very talented Miss Everdeen,” he compliments her as he gathers his things, making all the files disappear once again. “I hope you’ll change your mind in the future. We’ll be waiting for you.”

“I doubt it,” Katniss answers simply.

Although, of course, she’s not expecting to be reaped a second time for the arena, and as her name is called on stage, she thinks that, maybe, it’s about time to consider Fury’s offer.


End file.
